Last month my editor for my forthcoming picture book, Rice from Heaven, said she wanted us to create a subtitle just to make it clear what it's about. So the editor and her team suggested some, my agent suggested some, and then I reached out to a couple of my critique groups, and they suggested some. So I had about 10 titles to work with.

A subtitle, IMO, should be written concisely, and beautifully sum up the main idea of your book.

Here are some examples of recently published picture books with subtitles:Vincent Can't Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky by Barb RosenstockLong May She Wave: The True Story of Caroline Pickersgill and Her Star-Spangled Creation by Kristen FultonShe Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea ClintonAfter the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan SantatKick! Jump! Chop!: The Adventures of the Ninjabread Man by Heather Ayris BurnellLa, La, La: A Story of Hope by Kate DiCamillo

Did you notice the first three were nonfiction picture books, and the last three were fiction picture books? So subtitles can be used for both.

Author Darcy Pattison has something interesting to say about subtitles here. Will the subtitle help teachers, parents, and librarians find your book in the database?

Lastly, this article has good points about the dos and don'ts of subtitles.

So--what is my subtitle? You'll have to wait for the cover reveal to find out!

My first picture book was announced in Publisher's Weekly twice, July 18-19. One of the hardest things for an author to do is to keep matters a secret! But now it's official!

I wrote this story last year May 2016 after helping North Korean refugees send rice in balloons over the border of South Korea into the communist country. As the book comes closer to being published, I'm sure I'll share more details. Writing tip: Never give up. Revise and revise some more. If you don't know how, learn.

But for now, here's a timeline of Rice from Heaven for those of you who like writing details.

May 2nd, 2016: helped with balloon rice missionMay 9th, 2016: wrote 1st draft at 818 wordsDec. 19, 2016: snagged agent with this story (different draft)Jan/Feb. 2016: 1st round of 20 editors, 7 responded mostly they liked the story behind it, needed to improve writing (rejections), 1 took to acquisitionsEnd of Feb/ March/: Revised to be more lyrical--for more details on that, see this postApril 18: sent out 2nd round of submissions, 18 editors, 6 rejected, 3 interestedApril 18, 2017: Sonali Fry emailed, interested, took to acquisitionsApril 21, 2017: Sonali Fry made an offerMay 1, 2017: phone call with Sonali and AdriaMay 2017: draft #17 of 473 words sold verbally to Sonali Fry at Little BeeMay 18, 2017: Began back matter assistance with Little BeeJune 1, 2017: received 1st draft of contractJune 24th, 2017: signed picture book contract for Rice from Heaven in California with my agent and found out who the illustrator will beJuly 10, 2017: received signed contract back from Little BeeJuly 18, 2017: announced in Publisher's Weekly